Press release No. 241 of 4 July 2025
New orders in manufacturing
May 2025 (in real terms, provisional):
-1.4% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+5.3% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
April 2025 (in real terms, revised):
+1.6% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+5.8% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were down 1.4% in May 2025 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were 3.1% lower than in the previous month. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders in the period from March 2025 to May 2025 were 2.1% higher than in the previous three months; when large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were up 1.9%. After revision of the provisional data, new orders in April 2025 increased by 1.6% on March 2025 (provisional figure: +0.6%). The relatively large revision in April 2025 is due to late reporting of data for the automotive industry.
The negative development of new orders in manufacturing in May 2025 was primarily attributable to the substantial decline in new orders in the "manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products" sector (-17.7% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment). Several large-scale orders were recorded in this sector in April 2025. Furthermore, decreases observed in the "manufacture of electrical equipment" and "manufacture of basic metals" sectors (-6.2% and -5.1%, respectively) also had a negative impact on overall performance. By contrast, the increase in new orders for the manufacture of fabricated metal products (+18.2%) and the manufacture of other transport equipment (+6.8%) had a positive effect.
Month on month, new orders for capital goods were down 0.9% in May 2025, and new orders for intermediate goods were down 3.4%. By contrast, new orders for consumer goods grew by 3.1%.
Foreign orders rose by 2.9%. Here, orders from the euro area decreased by 6.5% while orders from outside the euro area increased by 9.0%. Domestic orders fell by 7.8%.
Turnover in May 2025 down 1.9% on the previous month
According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in May 2025 was down 1.9% on the previous month. Compared with May 2024, the calendar adjusted turnover was down 1.7%. After revision of the provisional data, there was a decrease of 1.4% in April 2025 from March 2025 (provisional figure: -1.5%).
Methodological notes:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons of calendar adjusted results enable long-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations or calendar effects.
New orders and turnover in manufacturing are recorded and evaluated in accordance with the "Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008)". Information on new orders is only collected in selected branches (only in German) of manufacturing. The rates of change are based on the price adjusted indices of new orders and of turnover in manufacturing. The average figure for 2021 is used as the basis of the index and set to 100 index points (2021 = 100). The X13 JDemetra+ method was used for calendar and seasonal adjustment.
For better readability, this press release uses a short form for the names of some economic branches which differs from the designations in the "Classification of Economic Activities (2008 edition)". An overview of these short forms (only in German) is provided on the "Industry, manufacturing" page on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.
More information:
Detailed data and long time series are available in the GENESIS-Online database (42151-0004 indices of new orders, 42151-0008 indices of new orders excluding large-scale orders, and 42152-0004 turnover indices).
A dossier on the "Short-term indicators" page of the Federal Statistical Office's website provides an analysis of the relationship between material shortages, new orders, production and prices in industry. Detailed information on production in energy-intensive industrial branches (only in German) is available on the "Industry, manufacturing" page.
Information on new orders in manufacturing can also be found on the Economic Dashboard, which is part of Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring. The Economic Dashboard also provides a new early indicator for estimating turnover in manufacturing (only in German). First turnover data are therefore already available 20 days after the end of the reference month.
Important technical information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:
The following changes to the GENESIS-Online web service interfaces (API) will take effect on 15 July 2025: POST methods of the RESTful/JSON interface will replace the SOAP/XML interface and GET methods of the RESTful/JSON interface. Please adapt your processes now to use POST requests for the RESTful/JSON interface. Detailed technical documentation and more information about the changeover can be found on the GENESIS-Online website.